OPM: Four Kinds of Song + More

Bleak Magician – How the Disappearance Appeared to Us

Smart and imaginative post-punk noise rock with lo-fi sci-fi production and gothic sensibilities. Dramatic, reverb and echo soaked vocals are surrounded with swathes of guitar and synth and set to march to relentless, plodding beats. 

The aesthetic and approach are definitively lo-fi but the varying layers of guitar, bass, synth and drums/drum machines, are put together with a deft touch to excellent results. The three song tease available now hints at a much larger, more fleshed out concept to come, and will leave you wanting more. (Having heard the rest, I can confirm it lives up to its promise.)

(Listened to the entire thing)

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Cheer Captain – “Enemies to Lovers Arc”

Guitar-driven power pop that brings sharp riffs, big choruses and a sense of fun to the table. The lyrics fall somewhere between oblique and nonsensical, the vocals draw on the punk pop end of the pool, and the guitar riffs somehow nod toward alt-country. 

The sum of these parts wouldn’t sound out of place opening for Cheap Trick in 1983 or playing at Warped Tour in the early ‘00s – this is just power pop at its core, suitable for all ages. 

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The Pomegranate County Irregulars – “Lying to Me”

Deeply weird guitar-driven freak-folk pop that feels like a lost artifact of the ‘90s indie rock scene. The rubbery vocals fall into a nebulous area between Fred Schneider and Roky Erickson. 

There’s a vaguely gothic vibe to both the vocals and production and just a generally loopy energy to the whole thing. Some nice guitar work helps it all hang together. It’s kind of punk, kind of folk, kind of psychedelic and generally just out there.  

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Ivan M. Brown – The Soul Thing

Smooth, polished adult electronic pop in the vein of Gotye or Miike Snow. The productions borrow heavily from the dance world, with hints of house and trance present throughout. 

It’s a very accessible sound that seems like it could be big with the right audience. And when they find it, they’re going to feel blessed to discover this source of slick, well-made pop waiting for them.

(Listened to the entire EP)

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DadaKopf – The Divine Comedy

Experimental soundscape that incorporates elements of drone and noise into its textural audio manipulations based on Dante’s Divine Comedy. It opens with the slow, dark and suitably oppressive rumbling of “Inferno,” then “Purgatorio” spun a web of distorted digital ringing that almost offered up melody at moments before giving way to manipulated chanting for the track’s back half. 

The closer “Paradiso” finished up with effects-laden twists of samples of unknown origin, including snatches of more chanting and what sounds like a small child. Overall it’s an interesting and at times surprising trek thru a little bit of Dante and a lot of weird noises.

(Listened to the entire EP)

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